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> how they were giving farmers tax breaks to plant forests. An interesting choice. It's pretty clear that Ontario's housing problem is directly related to its
by randomdata 3y ago
> how they were giving farmers tax breaks to plant forests.
An interesting choice.
It's pretty clear that Ontario's housing problem is directly related to its farmland problem. Southern Ontario farmland values have risen 900% since the United States changed its farm subsidy policies in the 2000s, which allowed farming in Canada to be much more viable.
Farmland being 900% more expensive means that urban areas can't sprawl cheaply like they once were able to, placing much more pressure on existing urban boundaries, thereby seeing the cost of urban housing rise.
If this successfully takes even more farmland out of the equitation, farmers will just pay even more[1] for the remaining farmland, and then urban areas will have to pay even more to sprawl, putting even more pressure on existing urban boundaries, making urban housing even more expensive.
[1] Supply managed diary and poultry producers are effectively given a blank cheque from the government. There is no end to how much they can spend.
- voisin 3y ago> Supply managed diary and poultry producers are effectively given a blank cheque from the government. There is no end to how much they can spend. Can you elaborate on this? It seems the dairy farmers I grew up with in Southwestern Ontario were living just above poverty.
- randomdata 3y agoWhat kind of elaboration are you looking for? > It seems the dairy farmers I grew up with in Southwestern Ontario were living just above poverty. Sure. Such is the life of owing a business. I mean, why take for yourself personally when you can buy another farm instead? While not dairy or poultry, I operate a grain farm in Southern Ontario – along with involvement in tech – and I also live in near poverty. Not because I have to, but because the money is better spent on growing and improving the business. That's the name of the farming game. If you wanted to live a comfortable personal life, you'd get a regular day job instead. That's a perfectly reasonable choice – nay, the most reasonable choice – but once you catch the farming bug...